Inocciduous
by RexcaliburEchoes
Summary: [Crosspost from Wattpad, WIP] / [Inocciduous - Of a star, never setting.] Saacha was just a normal high school student. All she wanted was to graduate and get out. Get away from the dangerous woods, get away from her smothering parents, get away from it all. But it all changed when she found an abandoned egg in the woods.
1. Act 1, Day 1

_You know what? I think that I'd rather have a monster slowly rip each and every one of my teeth out then go home._ The girl walking down the dirt path shuffled along , little puffs of dirt floating away as she dragged her feet.

She hikes she book bag higher up on her shoulder, tempted to sit there on the track. After a moment of deliberation, she decides that she did want to sit down. She _did_ overexert herself in training at school today, so sitting on the dusty road seemed like a good idea.

Saacha's light plate armor clinked against itself as she sank down to the ground.

"Uuuuuuhh..." She groans, closing her eyes, not appreciating the spinning from behind her eyelids as she laid down. "Training is so dumb... I hate running around with people chasing me at every turn in that gods-forsaken maze."

She groans again, enjoying the feel of the soft green grass cushioning her sore body from that days's training. It was leagues better than her own bed, by far. Why would she want to lay in a bed of springs, when there's this soft grass?

Reluctantly sitting up, and rummages through her bag and retrieves a granola bar she'd saved. She stands up, her stiffened joints and bruises screaming in protest. She unwraps her snack, cursing the wrapper in her palm and stuffing it in her windbreaker's pocket. She'll throw it away later, if she remembered.

Munching on her bar, she failed to notice the tiny bloodstains on the dirt road into a loud, inhuman scream erupted from the bushes. Saacha screams in response, her hand flashing to the dagger on her hip. With a quiet, but slightly comforting _shing_ , she settles in the familiar defensive stance, ready for anything to come at her and fight her, be it monster, human, or otherwise.

Her grip on her knife becomes so tight that her knuckles start to turn white once the bushes start to rustle more vigorously.

"W-Who's there?!" She demands, trying to force her voice to stop shaking. "Show yourself! If this is a prank, I don't appreciate it!"

There's grunting from the woods, and more screams that chill Saacha to the bone. The blood slowly drains from her face. The screams were getting closer.

Suddenly, the screaming stopped. But... it still wasn't over. _Sliiiither-thump. Sliiiiither-thump. Thud._

Whatever was happening in those trees... it stopped.

Saacha didn't like this one but. This ominous feeling- it was warning her of danger. Something _bad_ happened here. Common sense screamed at her to _run_. It urged her _to get the hell out of there._ But curiosity compelled her to edge closer to the treeline to inspect what it was.

She edges closer to the treeline, still holding her blade with a vice-like grip. Her boots squish through the blood-soaked ground, and she resists the urge to vomit. The coppery tang in the air grosses her out. She'd always hated it when one of the school's teachers would bring in fresh, bloody monster corpses to inspect during class.

Honestly, some of the monsters were kinda cute, in their own, weird monster-y way. They reminded her of her cat.

Almost too lost in her own fear, she screamed again. A bloody mass lay at her feet; she hadn't spotted it in time to avoid it.

 _I should get out of here._ She reasoned with herself. _It's not safe. That was a monster corpse. Whatever killed_ it, _could definitely kill me._

Just as she was on the verge of turning away, the bushed rustle again, causing her to swerve and slip on the bloody grass. She falls over, her knife falling from her hand. She curls up on the ground, preparing for the worst.

The worst doesn't come.

"What...?" The brunette sits up in confusion, doing her best to wipe away the blood from her face. "Why did...?"

She looks around before picking up her knife. There was no sign of movement, so she wasn't sure _what,_ exactly, had caused that noise. Perhaps she was lucky.

Muttering a soft _thank you_ to the sky, she pushed her way through the foliage, ready to just head home and _not_ be bothered by whatever happened here. As she was leaving, a dull flash catches her eye. It was silvery, and rather strange, seeing as everywhere else was green-stained-red with blood.

"This day keeps getting stranger and stranger," Saacha mutters. She stops again, warring with herself to decided if she wanted to investigate or leave it.

Curiosity won, and she bent over to look at the weird, silvery object.

It was relatively spherical, and smooth to the touch. Every time she looked at it at a different angle, it shimmered. She picks it up and stuffs it in her bag. She'll look at it later, she supposed. She has to get home and explain to her parent why she was so bloody at some point.

 _ **-M-**_

Saacha flings the door open, startling her mother and father.

"Saacha?! What in the world?" Her father stands up quickly, knocking over his chair in the process. "You're mother and I were so worried! What happened to you? Do you know how dangerous it is outside?"

"I-" Saacha begins, but her mother cuts across her.

"Yong lady, do you have any idea how long you were gone for?! You were gone for an hour! An hour!" The woman pushes her father aside, gripping her shoulders. "What mess did you get into this time? You're all bloody!"

Saacha takes in a breath. "Well, I came across a monster on my way-"

"A monster!?" If her mother wasn't pissed off from earlier, she certainly was now. "You know that you still can't fight until you get a proper knife, not just that flimsy stick they give you for class! You could have been killed!"

"I know that, mom, but the monster was dead long before I came across it! Something killed it-"

Instead of being cut across her mother again, her father butts in this time. "There's no excuse, young lady. Monsters are dangerous creatures, and you should count your blessings that the monster _was_ dead. I think some time to yourself will do you some good. From today on, you aren't allowed to go out with friends."

Her mother nods in agreement. "I think they're starting to become a poor influence on you. You need some time to think about what you did today. Go and wash up."

Saacha gapes in anger and shock. After surviving a monster attack and finding something strange, _this_ is how she's treated?! Speechless, she stands there for a few minutes more.

"I... I...!" She manages to say before her anger takes over. Gathering herself up, she tears through the living room, tracking mud and blood through the carpet and dashed to her room. She shuts her door with a loud _slam_ , the noise reverberating through the house.

Throwing her bag to the side, she angrily turns on the taps to the bathtub and lets it fill with scalding hot water.

"I can't believe them!" She growls darkly. "I survived a monster attack and came back unscathed, and I get shafted like this?"

She dunks herself in the steaming water, scrubbing at the red patches left on her skin from the blood.

"By the gods, I can't do anything right without getting yelled at. Leading a team? 'Hope you aren't too bossy'! Training? 'You need to train harder and put more effort into it'! By the gods, it's like they want me to be perfect. But I'm not..."

Dragging herself out of the bathtub, she towels herself dry and redresses. Not in the mood to deal with her parents, at the current moment, she pulls the silver orb out of her bag.

It was surprisingly heavy, and was warm to the touch. Other than the odd smoothness to the touch, and shimmer in the light, it was rather unremarkable.

"Ugh, whatever." She grumbles. She stuffs the orb in her bag and flops on her bed.

It wasn't as comfortable as the grass, but it'll do.

Feeling rather drained from the afternoon's events, her eyes start to drift shut. There was something significant about the orb thing, but she didn't want to deal with it now.

She'll burn that bridge when she gets to it.


	2. Act 1, Day 2

_Tap, tap, tap._

Saacha grumbles in her sleep. Whatever that noise was, it has better stop soon.

 _Tap, tap, tap._

Her grumbling turns into a heavy groan. "What the hell is tapping?! Can't I just sleep for one evening?"

The quiet tapping became heavier and more rapid, now. _Taptaptaptaptap_.

Saacha throws her sheets off, standing up and walking towards the sound of the tapping. It seemed to be emanating from her bag.

"I didn't put anything in there," She mutters, opening it and tossing things around, willy-nilly. "What is making that infernal noise?"

A scrap of cloth? That can't be it. Her cell phone? It needed to be charged, but it ws dead, so it couldn't be making noises. A flower given to her by an admirer? Embarrassing, but no. Homework that was due two days ago? Oops.

By this point, she's nearly emptied her bag, her room looking none the better.

Grumbling to herself, Saacha look around and starts to hurriedly shove the papers into her bag.

"Well, whatever that tapping noise was, it better stop. I'm sick and tired of people trying to bother me when I just want to be left alone."

She tosses her bag to the side, flopping face-first on her bed again.

She was wrong. The tapping refused to stop.

"Aw, come on!" She groans loudly. "What do you want?!"

Pause.

 _Crack_.

Silence.

The girl stops in front of her bag. It stopped.

A little more than freaked out, she back away from it. "Oookay...? Thank you?"

Her bag started to wriggle. Little squeaks emanated from it as whatever... _thing_ that was in it crawled around.

She swipes her knife from her side table, holding it out in front of her, eyes wide. "S-Stay back! I'm-I'm armed and dangerous! You don't want to screw around with me!"

The movement didn't cease. In fact, it got even more vigorous, and quiet squeaks turned into whining. It was almost... catlike, if Saacha had to be honest with herself. And that was weird, since she was _pretty_ sure that she didn't pick up and strays in her sleep.

Well... she was about ninety percent sure she didn't pick anything up yesterday.

Either way, she knew she didn't pick up any animals yesterday, or last night.

"If I bring anything home with be, I'll eat my homework!" She mutters, kneeling down to inspect her bag. She lifts the flap. A pair of bright purple eyes meets her own hazel ones. Something wet licks her hand and crawls out of the hole in her bag.

It was a dragon.

No.

 _It was a monster._

"H-How..." Saacha breaths, backing away from the dragon-monster. "What... no, I didn't bring a monster with me. How? Oh, gods, my parents are going to kill me..."

But this monster really didn't _look_ like a monster. It didn't look like one of those human eating lizards that breathed fire, or those giant birds that conjured a lightning storm to kill you.

In fact, it was kind of cute.

It was a slow moving monster, that was for sure. Its flippers didn't help with its movement on land, either. If anything, they slowed it down. No wonder it couldn't navigate its way out of her bag. It squeaks in excitement and playfully licks her hand again. Saacha isn't sure whether to scream or giggle at it. Maybe both.

For being a dragon, it was quite small. And cold. She supposed that _all_ dragons would be hot to the touch and gigantic. Not this little reptile-looking thing.

It presses its muzzle against her palm, snuffing for a few seconds, before deciding to crawl to her door.

"No!" Saacha cries out, snatching it up in her arms and carrying it to her bed. "That's dangerous! You can't go out there! My parents will kill you _and_ me for keeping you here!"

The reptile tilts its head at her, its liquid amethyst eyes staring at her with curiosity.

"Oh, don't give me that look." Saacha pouts at the reptile, pushing her bottom lip out at it. Her expression freezes. "By the gods, I'm mothering a dragon."

The dragon reptile squeaks, almost as though it were confirming her thoughts.

"Yep. I'm mothering a dragon." For some reason, she didn't seem to mind. Maybe it was because she was the one who found it in the first place. Maybe it was because it was cute.

"Saacha?" Her father called from the living room. "You have a friend who's visiting."

"O-Okay!" She replies, setting the dragon aside. "You have to stay here. I don't want you to get hurt."

It seemed to understand her words after a minute by squeaking in confirmation. Without another noise, it curls up on her bed and lays there.

Saacha walks to her door, looking back at it.

 _Yep. I'm totally mothering a dragon monster._


End file.
